Dynamic transmission power adjustment

ABSTRACT

A technique for dynamically adjusting power use of an input/output (I/O) interface of an electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes an input/output (I/O) interface that facilitates electronic communications with a receiving electronic device, at a particular transmission rate that is dynamically changeable by the electronic device. Transmission power and transmission rate adjustment circuitry determines whether a step-down in a transmission power used for signal transmission at the particular transmission rate is desirable. When desirable, the transmission power is dynamically adjusted down one step, such that less power is used by the I/O interface during the electronic communications.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates to efficient electronic communication betweenelectronic devices using dynamic transmission power adjustment.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects ofart that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure,which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed tobe helpful in providing the reader with background information tofacilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statementsare to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Modern electronic devices often include electronic communicationscapabilities. Devices such as cellular telephones, tablet computers,laptop computers, personal computers, televisions, headphones, watches,printers, and cameras all may use electronic communications capabilitiesto transmit and receive data. The electronic communications capabilitiesmay include wireless or wired communications capabilities. Wirelesscommunications capabilities may include, for example, WiFi (IEEE 802.11)or Bluetooth® (IEEE 802.15). Wired communications capabilities mayinclude, for example, an Ethernet port running the Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

These electronic communication capabilities may consume a substantialamount of power. Indeed, the impact of these communication capabilitieson an electronic device may be magnified when the electronic device isportable and uses batteries that hold a finite amount of energy.

SUMMARY

A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. Itshould be understood that these aspects are presented merely to providethe reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and thatthese aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may notbe set forth below.

The present disclosure relates to devices and methods to conserve powerduring electronic communication between electronic devices, whileretaining electronic transmission and/or reception quality. Indeed,electronic communication may represent a substantial amount of the powerconsumed by an electronic device. Accordingly, to reduce powerconsumption of the electronic device, the electronic device may reducethe amount of transmission power that is used to transmit data at aparticular transmission rate, provided that a level of quality oftransmission may be maintained at the reduced transmission power for aparticular transmission rate. The electronic device may determine, forinstance, whether a threshold data throughput of the electronictransmission can be maintained at the reduced transmission power for theparticular transmission rate. If the threshold data throughput can bemaintained, the transmission power for the particular transmission rateis reduced, potentially resulting in additional energy efficiency of theelectronic device.

Various refinements of the features noted above may be made in relationto various aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may alsobe incorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements andadditional features may exist individually or in any combination. Forinstance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more ofthe illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of theabove-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in anycombination. The brief summary presented above is intended only tofamiliarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodimentsof the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon readingthe following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic device including anI/O interface that may be controlled at least in part by transmissionrate adjustment and/or an adjustment of transmission power, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a notebook computer representing anembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a hand-held device representing anotherembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of another hand-held device representing anotherembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a desktop computer representing anotherembodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a front view of a wearable electronic device representinganother embodiment of the electronic device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process for dynamically adjustingtransmission power of an I/O interface of an electronic device, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating rate adjustment logic andtransmission power adjustment logic, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process for determining whethertransmission power reduction for a particular transmission rate isappropriate, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIGS. 10 and 11 are flowcharts illustrating a process for stepping downtransmission power for a transmission rate, in accordance with anembodiment; and

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process for determining a poweradjustment margin (Y% value), in accordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

One or more specific embodiments will be described below. In an effortto provide a concise description of these embodiments, not all featuresof an actual implementation are described in the specification. Itshould be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerousimplementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve thedevelopers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related andbusiness-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation toanother. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a developmenteffort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be aroutine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those ofordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

When introducing elements of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean thatthere are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,”“including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean thatthere may be additional elements other than the listed elements.Additionally, it should be understood that references to “oneembodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are notintended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additionalembodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Further, as usedherein, the transmission power refers to an amount of power consumed totransmit a particular amount of data via electronic communication at aparticular transmission rate. The transmission rate may refer to a rateat which electronic communication information is processed by atransmitting electronic device.

Power consumption by electronic communication represents a substantialamount of the total power consumption of many electronic devices. Toreduce the power consumption during electronic communication, anelectronic device may dynamically adjust a transmission rate and/or atransmission power of electronic communications. These adjustments mayimprove the energy efficiency of the electronic device by reducing powerconsumption due to electronic communication while retaining the qualityof the electronic communication. As discussed in greater detail below,the electronic device transmission rates and/or transmission power usedat maintained transmission rates may be dynamically adjusted based uponcertain characteristics of the electronic device, characteristics of theuse of the electronic device, characteristics of the communicationand/or communication channels of the electronic device, etc. Forexample, to facilitate electronic communications, electronic devices maygenerate and transmit communication signals (e.g., electrical signals),which may be received and interpreted by receiving electronic devices.The transmission power used to generate and transmit these signals maydirectly impact the transmission. For example, as the transmission powerincreases, the electrical signals may become stronger, resulting in ahigher likelihood that the signals will be correctly detected by thereceiving device. However, in certain instances, it may be beneficial toconserve energy by reducing the transmission power, especially insituations where there is a preference of energy conservation overtransmission quality.

With these features in mind, a general description of suitableelectronic devices that may dynamically adjust transmission rates and/ortransmission power is provided. Turning first to FIG. 1, an electronicdevice 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure mayinclude, among other things, one or more processor(s) 12, memory 14,nonvolatile storage 16, a display 18, input structures 22, aninput/output (I/O) interface 24 (that may be at least partiallycontrolled by transmission power and transmission rate adjustment logic25), and a power source 26. The various functional blocks shown in FIG.1 may include hardware elements (e.g., including circuitry), softwareelements (e.g., including computer code stored on a computer-readablemedium) or a combination of both hardware and software elements. Itshould be noted that FIG. 1 is merely one example of a particularimplementation and is intended to illustrate the types of componentsthat may be present in electronic device 10.

By way of example, the electronic device 10 may represent a blockdiagram of the notebook computer depicted in FIG. 2, the handheld devicedepicted in either of FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, the desktop computer depicted inFIG. 5, the wearable electronic device depicted in FIG. 6, or similardevices. It should be noted that the processor(s) 12 and/or other dataprocessing circuitry may be generally referred to herein as “dataprocessing circuitry.” Such data processing circuitry may be embodiedwholly or in part as software, firmware, hardware, or any combinationthereof. Furthermore, the data processing circuitry may be a singlecontained processing module or may be incorporated wholly or partiallywithin any of the other elements within the electronic device 10.

In the electronic device 10 of FIG. 1, the processor(s) 12 and/or otherdata processing circuitry may be operably coupled with the memory 14 andthe nonvolatile storage 16 to perform various methods. These methods mayinclude programs or instructions executed by the processor(s) 12 thatmay be stored in any suitable article of manufacture that includes oneor more tangible, computer-readable media at least collectively storingthe instructions or routines. For example, the memory 14 or thenonvolatile storage 16 may be any suitable articles of manufacture forstoring data and executable instructions, such as random-access memory,read-only memory, rewritable flash memory, hard drives, and opticaldiscs. Also, programs (e.g., an operating system) encoded on such acomputer program product may also include instructions that may beexecuted by the processor(s) 12 to enable the electronic device 10 toprovide various functionalities, including those discussed in particularbelow.

The display 18 may be any suitable electronic display that may allowusers to view graphics generated on the electronic device 10. Thedisplay 18 may be a liquid crystal display (e.g., LCD) or a display withself-emissive pixels (e.g., LED, OLED, AMOLED, uLED). Touch screencapabilities may allow people to interact with a user interface of theelectronic device 10 via the display 18. The input structures 22 of theelectronic device 10 may enable a user to interact with the electronicdevice 10 (e.g., pressing a button to increase or decrease a volumelevel).

The I/O interface 24 may enable electronic device 10 to interface withvarious other electronic devices. The I/O interface 24 may includevarious communications interfaces, such as universal serial bus (USB)ports, serial communications ports (e.g., RS232), Apple's Lightning®connector, or other communications interfaces, such as interfaces for apersonal area network (e.g., PAN), such as a Bluetooth network, for alocal area network (e.g., LAN) or wireless local area network (e.g.,WLAN), such as an 802.11x Wi-Fi network, and/or for a wide area network(e.g., WAN), such as a 3^(rd) generation (e.g., 3G) cellular network,4^(th) generation (e.g., 4G) cellular network, or long term evolution(e.g., LTE) cellular network. The I/O interface 24 may also includeinterfaces for, for example, broadband fixed wireless access networks(e.g., WiMAX), mobile broadband Wireless networks (e.g., mobile WiMAX),and so forth.

As mentioned above, the I/O interface 24 may be controlled, at leastpartially, by the transmission power and transmission rate adjustmentlogic 25. The transmission power and transmission rate adjustment logic25 may dynamically adjust a transmission rate and/or a transmissionpower associated with the transmission rate, to optimize communicationoperations via the I/O interface. For example, the transmission powerand transmission rate adjustment logic 25 may enhance power use of thepower source 26 by reducing power consumption by the I/O interface 24,when reduced power operation of the I/O interface 24 will maintain adesired quality of electronic communication.

First, the transmission power and transmission rate adjustment logic 25may adjust the transmission rate to reduce power consumption by theelectronic device 10. Indeed, certain communications applications may beable to use less bandwidth than other communications applications and,thus, may be able to use a lower transmission rate without loss ofquality. In one particular example, electronic communications (e.g.,transmission and/or reception of data) involving streaminghigh-definition video data may involve a higher data throughput thanstreaming low-definition video. Further, playing a network-based gamemay involve even less data throughput than either streaming application.Accordingly, a transmission rate for high-definition video data may bedynamically adjusted to be higher than the low-definition videostreaming, which may be dynamically adjusted to be higher than thegaming application.

Second, for a particular transmission rate, the transmission power andtransmission rate adjustment logic 25 may reduce the transmission powerconsumed to generate communication signals that are being transmitted.The amount of transmission power used to transmit the communicationsignals may be directly correlated with signal strength, which mayimpact quality of communication at the receiving end of thecommunication channel. In certain situations, communication quality mayremain high even without using full transmission power in transmissionof the communications signals. Indeed, in some scenarios, it may bebeneficial not to use full transmission power in such transmission.Moreover, in some situations, power preservation may take priority overcommunication quality. For example, returning to the applicationsdiscussed above, higher quality communication may be desired with highdefinition video streaming as compared to network-based gameapplications (e.g., because the network-based game application may useless data throughput than the high definition video streaming).Accordingly, in network-based game applications, it may be morebeneficial to preserve power rather than maintain higher communicationquality. Accordingly, for the network-based game application, thetransmission power may be adjusted downward, while in thehigh-definition video streaming application, the transmission power mayremain high.

In some embodiments, certain characteristics of the electronic devicemay impact whether the transmission power and transmission rateadjustment logic 25 more or less aggressively adjusts transmission powerconsumed by the I/O interface 24. In one embodiment, when an overallpower level of the electronic device dips below a threshold level, a“power saving” mode may be implemented. The “power saving” mode mayintroduce a preference for power saving over higher-qualitycommunication, and thus the transmission power may be reduced moreaggressively. Further, in some embodiments, electronic device movementmay impact the determination of whether a transmission power decreasemay be desirable. For example, an accelerometer, gyroscope or touchsensor may be used to determine whether or not the electronic device isin a state of movement or stability. When in a state of movement (e.g.,shaking, etc.), the communication channel between the electronic deviceand the target electronic device may be less stable than when theelectronic device is in a stable position. Accordingly, highertransmission power may be used with moving electronic devices, asopposed to non-moving devices.

Communication characteristics may also impact the transmission poweradjustment. For example, when an error rate of the communication isknown, this characteristic may be used to discern whether a transmissionpower adjustment may be warranted. For example, when there arerelatively few errors, it may be desirable to lower transmission powerand/or increase the transmission rate. In contrast, when there are arelatively high number of errors, the transmission power may beincreased and/or the transmission rate may be decreased.

As further illustrated, the electronic device 10 may include a powersource 26. The power source 26 may include any suitable source of power,such as a rechargeable lithium polymer (e.g., Li-poly) battery and/or analternating current (e.g., AC) power converter. The power source 26 maybe removable, such as replaceable battery cell. As mentioned above, insome embodiments, the transmission power and transmission rateadjustment logic 25 may act to prolong the charge of the power source26.

In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10 may take the form of acomputer, a portable electronic device, a wearable electronic device, orother type of electronic device. Such computers may include computersthat are generally portable (e.g., such as laptop, notebook, and tabletcomputers) as well as computers that are generally used in one place(e.g., such as conventional desktop computers, workstations and/orservers). In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10, in the formof a computer, may be a model of a MacBook®, MacBook® Pro, MacBook Air®,iMac®, Mac® mini, or Mac Pro® available from Apple Inc. By way ofexample, the electronic device 10, taking the form of a computer 30A, isillustrated in FIG. 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The depicted computer 30A may include a housing or enclosure32, a display 18, input structures 22, and ports of the I/O interface24. In one embodiment, the input structures 22 (e.g., such as a keyboardand/or touchpad) may be used to interact with the computer 30A, such asto start, control, or operate a GUI or applications running on computer30A. For example, a keyboard and/or touchpad may allow a user tonavigate a user interface or application interface displayed on thedisplay 18.

FIG. 3 depicts a front view of a handheld device 30B, which representsone embodiment of the electronic device 10 of FIG. 1. The handhelddevice 30B may represent, for example, a portable phone, a media player,a personal data organizer, a handheld game platform, or any combinationof such devices. By way of example, the handheld device 30B may be amodel of an iPod® or iPhone® available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino,Calif. The handheld device 30B may include an enclosure 36 to protectinterior components from physical damage and to shield them fromelectromagnetic interference. The enclosure 36 may surround the display18, which may display a graphical-user-interface 38. Ports of the I/Ointerfaces 24 may open through the enclosure 36 and may include, forexample, an I/O port for a hard wired connection for charging and/orcontent manipulation using a connector and protocol, such as theLightning connector provided by Apple Inc., a universal service bus(e.g., USB), one or more conducted RF connectors, or other connectorsand protocols.

User input structures 22, in combination with the display 18, may allowa user to control the handheld device 30B. For example, one of the inputstructures 22 may activate or deactivate the handheld device 30B, one ofthe input structures 22 may navigate user interface to a home screen, auser-configurable application screen, and/or activate avoice-recognition feature of the handheld device 30B, while other of theinput structures 22 may provide volume control, or may toggle betweenvibrate and ring modes. Additional input structures 22 may also includea microphone that may obtain a user's voice for various voice-relatedfeatures, and a speaker to allow for audio playback and/or certain phonecapabilities. The input structures 22 may also include a headphone inputto provide a connection to external speakers and/or headphones.

FIG. 4 depicts a front view of another handheld device 30C, whichrepresents another embodiment of the electronic device 10 of FIG. 1. Thehandheld device 30C may represent, for example, a tablet computer, orone of various portable computing devices. By way of example, thehandheld device 30C may be a tablet-sized embodiment of the electronicdevice 10 of FIG. 1, which may be, for example, a model of an iPad®available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. Similar to previouselectronic device 10 embodiments, the handheld device 30C may include anenclosure 36 to protect and enclose internal components of the handhelddevice 30C. The handheld device 30C may include one or more port openingfor the I/O interface 24. Further, the handheld device 30C may includeone or more input structures 22, which may allow a user to control thehandheld device 30C. Additionally, the display 18 of handheld device 30Cmay display a graphical-user-interface 38, which may be controlled bythe input structures 22 and/or the display 18.

Turning to FIG. 5, a computer 30D may represent another embodiment ofthe electronic device 10 of FIG. 1. The computer 30D may be anycomputer, such as a desktop computer, a server, or a notebook computer,but may also be a standalone media player or video gaming machine. Byway of example, the computer 30D may be an iMac®, a MacBook®, or othersimilar device by Apple Inc. It should be noted that the computer 30Dmay also represent a personal computer (e.g., PC) by anothermanufacturer. As in previous embodiments, a display 18 may be provided.Further, an enclosure 36 may be provided to protect and enclose internalcomponents of the computer 30D. In certain embodiments, a user of thecomputer 30D may interact with the computer 30D using various peripheralinput devices, such as input structures 22 (e.g., a keyboard or mouse),which may connect to the computer 30D via a wired and/or wirelessinterface.

Similarly, FIG. 6 depicts a wearable electronic device 30E representinganother embodiment of the electronic device 10 of FIG. 1 that may beconfigured to operate using the techniques described herein. By way ofexample, the wearable electronic device 30E, which may include anenclosure 36 and a wristband 43, may be an Apple Watch® by Apple, Inc.However, in other embodiments, the wearable electronic device 30E mayinclude any wearable electronic device such as, for example, a wearableexercise monitoring device (e.g., e.g., pedometer, accelerometer, heartrate monitor), or other device by another manufacturer. The display 18of the wearable electronic device 30E may include a touch screen (e.g.,e.g., LCD, OLED display, active-matrix organic light emitting diode(e.g., AMOLED) display, and so forth), which may allow users to interactwith a graphical-user-interface 38 of the wearable electronic device30E. Input structures 22 and/or the display 18 may be used to interactwith the wearable electronic device 30E.

Turning now to a more detailed discussion of the transmission power andtransmission rate adjustment logic 25 of FIG. 1, FIG. 7 is a flowchartillustrating a process 70 for dynamically adjusting transmission powerand/or transmission rate of I/O interface 24 communications of anelectronic device 10, in accordance with an embodiment. After the startof the transmission (block 72), communication sampling, using thecurrent transmission rate, is implemented (block 74). In someembodiments, sample data throughputs for the transmission may beaccumulated and/or other sampling measurements may be derived via dataaccumulated during this sampling. For example, in some embodiments, aprobability of successful communication may be derived based upon errorrates that are accumulated during sampling.

Certain transmission rate adjustments may be implemented based upon thedata obtained during the sampling (block 76). For example, in someembodiments, a prediction of data throughput at upwardly adjusted anddownwardly adjusted transmission rates may be derived using the sampledata throughputs and the probability of successful communication dataobtained during the communication sampling. When a data throughput atthe current transmission rate is higher than the predicted datathroughput of the upwardly adjusted and downwardly adjusted transmissionrates, the current transmission rate may be maintained. Conversely, whenthe predicted data throughput of the upwardly adjusted transmission rateor the downwardly adjusted transmission rate is higher than the currentdata throughput, the transmission rate may be adjusted upward ordownward, respectively.

Once the transmission rate is maintained, a determination may be made asto whether transmission power reduction for the current transmissionrate may be appropriate (decision block 78). For example, certainfactors may not be compatible with transmission power reduction at aparticular transmission rate. Accordingly, in some embodiments, theelectronic device 10 may determine if such factors exist and attempttransmission power reduction only when incompatible factors do notexist. For example, transmission channel instability may not becompatible with transmission power reduction. Accordingly, transmissionchannel stability may be predicted using the electronic device 10. Forexample, rapid and/or frequent movement of the electronic device 10 maycause instability of the transmission channel, due to movement oftransmission radios of the electronic device. Accordingly, sensor data(e.g., from Doppler, gyroscopic, accelerometer, etc.) of the electronicdevice 10 may be used to predict transmission channel stability.

If transmission power reduction is not appropriate, the process 70 mayreturn to sampling transmission rates (block 74), continuing to adapttransmission rates (block 76) and determining whether transmission powerreduction is appropriate (decision block 78).

When transmission power reduction is appropriate (e.g., as determined indecision block 78), the transmission power reduction process may beinitiated. This process begins with transmission sampling at astepped-down/reduced transmission power (block 80). For example, duringthe sampling at the reduced power, a transmission data throughput of thesamples at the reduced transmission power is acquired.

A determination is made as to whether the desired transmission rate canbe maintained at the reduced transmission power (decision block 82). Forexample, as will be discussed in more detail below, this determinationmay be made by comparing the transmission data throughput of the samplesat the reduced transmission power with a power adjustment margin (Y%) ofthe current transmission data throughput (at full transmission power).When the data throughput at the reduced transmission power reaches atleast the Y% of the current transmission data throughput, the electronicdevice 10 may determine that the desired transmission rate can bemaintained at the reduced transmission power. Further, a durationcounter may determine if the transmission rate can be maintained for athreshold duration.

When the current transmission rate cannot be maintained at the reducedtransmission power (e.g., when the data throughput at the reducedtransmission power does not reach at least the Y% of the currenttransmission data throughput), the process 70 may return to sampling atthe maintained transmission rate with maintained transmission power(block 74), adapting the transmission rate based upon the sampling(block 76), determining whether transmission power reduction isappropriate (decision block 78), etc. However, when the desiredtransmission rate can be maintained at reduced transmission power (e.g.,when the data throughput at the reduced transmission power reaches atleast the Y% of the current data throughput), the transmission power ofthe electronic device communications may be down-stepped to operate atthe reduced transmission power (block 84).

In some embodiments, additional down-stepping may be possible.Accordingly, additional sampling may occur (block 80) at the reducedtransmission power, such that an additional determination may be made asto whether the desired transmission rate may be maintained with anadditional reduction in transmission power (decision block 82). If thedesired transmission rate may be maintained, the electronic device mayoperate at the further reduced transmission power (block 84). Blocks80-84 may continue until the desired transmission rate and transmissionpower is reached, at which point the sampling of block 74 may continueand supplemental discernment of additional transmission rate and/ortransmission power adjustments may be made, based upon changingcircumstances.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the transmission power and transmissionrate adjustment logic 25 of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment. Inparticular, FIG. 8 illustrates transmission rate adjustment logic 112and transmission power adjustment logic 120. As previously mentioned inthe discussion of FIG. 7, after the transmission starts (block 72 ofFIG. 7), the sampling process (block 74 of FIG. 7) may begin. Duringsampling, data (e.g., data regarding the probable success oftransmission and/or sample data throughput of samples at the currenttransmission rate) may be used to predict throughput of adjustedtransmission rates.

Once the sampling is completed and the statistics are calculated, thetransmission rate adjustment logic 112 may include processing logic 122to adjust the transmission rate down (block 114), adjust thetransmission rate up (block 116), or maintain the current transmissionrate (block 118). For example, in some embodiments, the transmissionrate may be adjusted up or down based upon a predicted data throughputat the adjusted transmission rates (e.g., based upon the probablesuccess of transmission and/or sample data throughput. Transmission rateadjustments may continue, via resampling and recalculation ofstatistics, until the transmission rate stabilizes (e.g., maintained atblock 118). Once the transmission rate is maintained, transmission poweradjustment logic 120 may be implemented for the maintained transmissionrate.

Turning now to a more detailed discussion of the transmission poweradjustment logic 120 of FIG. 8, FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating anembodiment of the transmission rate adjustment logic 112 and a portion120A of the transmission power adjustment logic 120 of FIG. 8. Portion120A is a first portion of the transmission power adjustment logic 120that determines whether transmission power reduction for a particulartransmission rate is appropriate, as discussed in decision block 78 ofFIG. 7. As previously mentioned, the transmission power adjustment logic120 is implemented when the transmission rate is maintained (block 118).Once the transmission rate is maintained, portion 120A is implemented.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, in some embodiments, a counter 140 may beprovided in portion 120A of the transmission power adjustment logic 120.In such embodiments, the counter 140 may provide an indication of aduration of a maintained transmission rate and/or the number ofiterations of the step down process where a current transmission powerhas been maintained. For example as indicated by counter 140, each timeportion 120A of the transmission power adjustment logic 120 isimplemented, the counter increases by 1, indicating that thetransmission rate and/or transmission power has been maintained. Atdecision block 142, a determination is made as to whether the counterhas reached a threshold duration (represented by “X”). If the thresholdduration has not been reached, transmission rate adjustment logic 112 isrestarted at flow point “A.” However, when the threshold duration isreached, additional transmission power step-down processing continues.Accordingly, the counter 140 may ensure that a threshold duration ofmaintained transmission rate is reached prior to proceeding with furthertransmission power reduction.

In some embodiments, an additional counter of the portion 120A of thetransmission power adjustment logic 120 may indicate the number of timesa transmission power step-down has occurred. For example, a transmissionpower adjustment counter 141 may count each time a transmission powerstep-down occurs and a determination may be made as to whether thetransmission power adjustment counter 141 has reached a threshold numberof transmission-power-step-downs (decision block 143). If the thresholdnumber has been breached, the rate adjustment logic 112 is restarted atflow point “A,” skipping transmission power step-downs. However, whenthe threshold is not breached, additional transmission power step-downprocessing continues. Additionally and/or alternatively similar counterlogic may be used in the power adjustment margin calculation logic, aswill discussed in more detain with regard to FIG. 12.

When each of the threshold criteria is met, additional determinationsmay be made to discern whether low transmission power mode isappropriate. For example, as mentioned above, transmission channelinstability may be incompatible with transmission power step downs. Inthe current embodiment, factors which might affect transmission channelstability may be sensed, to determine whether low transmission powermode is appropriate. For example, as discussed above, movement of theelectronic device 10 may cause instability of the transmission channel,due to movement of transmission radios of the electronic device 10.Further, as will be discussed in more detail below, location of theelectronic device 10 on a user's body and/or head may impact adetermination as to whether low transmission power mode is appropriate.Accordingly, a low transmission power mode check 144 may be implemented.For example, a determination of movement of the electronic device 10and/or if the electronic device 10 is positioned on an operator's bodyand/or at the operator's head may be ascertained by sensor data providedby sensors (e.g., Doppler, gyroscopic, accelerometer, etc.) of theelectronic device 10.

Other factors may also impact the low transmission power mode check 144.For example, a low battery indication provided by the electronic device10 may indicate a preference to enter low transmission power mode,whereas a high battery power indication or continuous power sourceindication may indicate a preference to refrain from entering lowtransmission power mode.

Further, applications running on the electronic device 10 and/orapplication parameters of the applications running on the electronicdevice 10 may impact the low transmission power mode check 144. Forexample, an indication that applications that use high data throughputand/or require a high quality of service (QoS) are running on theelectronic device 10 may indicate a preference to refrain from enteringlow transmission power mode. Conversely, an indication that applicationsthat use low data throughput and/or do not require a high quality ofservice (QoS) are running on the electronic device 10 may indicate apreference to enter low transmission power mode.

Additionally, an indication of particular content streaming on theelectronic device 10 may affect the low transmission power mode check144. For example, high quality (e.g. high definition) content mayrequire more data throughput than lower quality content (e.g., lowresolution content). Accordingly, an indication that high qualitycontent is streaming on the electronic device 10 may indicate apreference to refrain from entering low transmission power mode.Conversely, an indication that lower quality content is streaming on theelectronic device 10 may indicate a preference to enter low transmissionpower mode.

Based upon the low transmission power mode check 144, the electronicdevice 10 may determine whether or not to proceed to low transmissionpower mode (decision block 146). When the low transmission power modecheck 144 indicates that the electronic device 10 should not proceed tolow transmission power mode (e.g., when transmission power reduction isnot appropriate), the rate adjustment logic 112 of FIG. 9 is restartedwithout any transmission power reduction, as indicated by flow point“A.” Conversely, when the low transmission power mode check 144indicates that the electronic device 10 should proceed to lowtransmission power mode, transmission power reduction may continue, asindicated by flow point “B.”

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating portion 120B of transmission poweradjustment logic 120 for stepping down transmission power for aparticular transmission rate, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated, portion 120B continues from the flow point “B” of FIG. 9to flow point “B” of FIG. 10. Similar to FIGS. 8 and 9, transmissionrate adjustment logic 112, via processing logic 122, may adjust thetransmission rate down (block 114), adjust the transmission rate up(block 116), or maintain the transmission rate (block 118). If thetransmission rates are adjusted up or down, processing continues fromflow point “A” of FIG. 9, without transmission power modification.

However, when the transmission rate is maintained, a training block 152may determine and/or extrapolate statistics for the current transmissionrate with a step-down in transmission power (e.g., 0.5 db, 1 dB, or 2 dBpower back off). For example, the training block 152 may determine aprobability of errors based upon sampled error rates at the reducedtransmission power. A probability of success rate may be determinedbased upon a probability of errors accumulated during a samplingprocess. The probability of success rate is 1 minus the probability oferror rate (which, in some embodiments, may be provided by the receivingelectronic device). The down-stepped sample data throughput may beextrapolated using the probability of success rate and the physicallayer (PHY) rate.

In some embodiments, a sample data throughput threshold determination ismade, indicating whether or not down-stepped transmission power shouldbe implemented. For example, in the current embodiment, a determinationis made as to whether a certain power adjustment margin (Y%) of thecurrent sample data throughput (e.g., the sample data throughput priorto down-stepping transmission power) is greater than the down-steppedsample data throughput derived in the training block 152 (decision block172).

When the determination of decision block 172 is yes, the currenttransmission rate and current transmission power are used. Thestatistics (e.g., the probably of success and sample data throughput)are updated (block 154) based upon the current transmission rate withoutdown-stepped transmission power. The rate adjustment logic 112 of FIG. 9is restarted using the updated statistics from block 154, as indicatedby flow point “A.”

However, when the determination of decision block 172 is no, the currenttransmission rate is used with a down-stepped transmission power and thestatistics (e.g., the probability of success and sample data throughput)are updated based upon the training block 152, as illustrated in block174.

As may be appreciated, the power adjustment margin (Y% value) determineshow aggressively to down-step the transmission power. Accordingly,factors such as the particular application of the communication (e.g.,gaming, music, low-definition video streaming, high-definitionstreaming, etc.), device characteristics, and/or communication qualitycharacteristics may be used to define and/or update the Y% value (block175). For example, when lower-data-throughput applications are beingused, the Y% value may be set such that there is a lower bar totriggering a down-step in transmission power (as indicated by block176). Further, Y may be set such that there is a lower bar to triggeringa down-step in power when battery levels are lower than a predeterminedthreshold (as indicated by block 178). In some embodiments, agraphical-user-interface (GUI) may be provided to an operator of theelectronic device, which enables the operator to indicate a qualitylevel and/or battery preservation level for the communication. Forexample, sliding bar 180 allows an operator to select between quality ofcommunication and energy preservation. As the sliding bar 180 approachesenergy preservation, the Y value may increasingly lower the bar totrigger a step-down in transmission power. Conversely, when the slidingbar 180 approaches the quality indication, the Y value may be modifiedto less-aggressively down-step the transmission power, resulting inhigher-quality communication. Further, in some embodiments,communication quality characteristics 182, such as a distance betweenthe electronic device and the receiving electronic device may be used tomodify the Y value (where closer communication may indicate that lowertransmission power may be useable, thus resulting in a Y value thatprovides a lower bar to triggering a down-step in transmission power.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, once a down-step in transmission power isimplemented and the statistics are updated based upon the down-step(block 174), processing continues to flow point “C” of portion 120C ofFIG. 11. Portion 120C checks to see if transmission rate can bemaintained at the down-stepped transmission power. As discussed above,the transmission rate adjustment logic 112, via the processing logic122, determines whether the transmission rate should be adjusted up,adjusted down, or maintained. If the transmission rate cannot bemaintained at the reduced transmission power (e.g., because the datathroughput is too low), the transmission rate adjustment logic 112adjusts the transmission rate down (block 114) and/or adjusts thetransmission rate up (block 116), returning to full transmission powerand restarting the rate adjustment logic 112 of FIG. 9, as indicated byflow point “A.” However, when the transmission rate can be maintained,the transmission rate adjustment logic 112 may maintain the currenttransmission rate (block 118), accordingly.

Once again, when the transmission rate is maintained, the training block152 may determine and/or extrapolate statistics for a one-steptransmission power back off (e.g., 0.5 dB, a 1 dB, or 2 dB transmissionpower back off). Further, decision block 172 and blocks 154 and 174 maybe implemented, similar to FIG. 10, which may result in additionaldown-stepping of transmission power. Down-stepping may continue until acertain number of iterations of down-stepping occur and/or the device nolonger meets the threshold requirements of the Y% value. For example, asmentioned previously in the discussion of FIG. 9, the counter 140 and/orthe transmission power adjustment counter 141 may be used to determinewhether additional down-stepping may be implemented (e.g., decisionblock 142 and/or decision block 143).

Turning now to a more detailed discussion of the power adjustment margin(Y% value) definition and/or updating (e.g., block 175 of FIGS. 10 and11), FIG. 12 illustrates a process 200 for power adjustment margindefinition and/or updating. When the transmission rate adjustment logic112 of FIG. 9 results in a maintained transmission rate (e.g., atstarting point “MR” 202), decision block 142 and/or decision block 143may be implemented (e.g., as discussed above regarding FIG. 9). Forexample, the decision block 142 may determine if a transmission rate hasbeen maintained for a certain threshold amount of time “X” and/ordecision block 143 (not depicted) may determine whether a number oftransmission power step-downs has been breached. If the transmissionrate has not been maintained for the threshold amount of time and/or thethreshold number of step-downs has been breached, the step-down intransmission power may be skipped. Accordingly, the Y value may be reset204, invalidated 206, and/or otherwise modified to indicate that thestep-down in transmission power should be skipped. However, when thetransmission rate has been maintained for the threshold duration (e.g.,“X”) and/or a threshold number of step-downs has not been breached, theY% value may be refreshed or polled 208. Polling 208 may obtaininformation related to factors 210 that may be useful to derive adesired aggressiveness for down-stepping the transmission power via apower adjustment margin (Y% value) that controls the aggressiveness ofthe down-stepping of the transmission power. As used herein, determiningan aggressiveness of the down-stepping and determining the poweradjustment margin may be used interchangeably, as the power adjustmentmargin directly impacts the aggressiveness of the transmission powerstep-downs.

Factors such as: application factors 212, a radio state 214, sensorstates 216, power states 218, location 220 information, and/or otherfactors 222 may be used alone or in combination to determine the poweradjustment margin (Y% value). For example, the application factors 212may determine certain factors of applications running on an electronicdevice 10. In one embodiment, a data throughput of an active application(or aggregation of active applications) may affect a determinedaggressiveness of down-stepping or power adjustment margin. For example,when lower-data-throughput applications are being used, more aggressivedown-stepping may be desired. In contrast, when higher-data-throughputapplications are being used, less aggressive down-stepping may bedesired.

The radio state 214 may indicate whether the radio used for thecommunications is Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth low energy (BLE), nearfield communications (NFC), etc. For radios with relatively highercommunications stability (e.g., Wi-Fi), the down-stepping may be moreaggressive. In contrast, radios with relatively lower communicationsstability may result in down-stepping that is less aggressive. In someembodiments, a lookup table may provide particular power adjustmentmargins for particular transmission rates used for certain radios. Forexample, a lookup table may specify particular power adjustment marginsto be used when particular Wi-Fi transmission rates are being used.

Additionally, sensor states 216 may be used to modify the poweradjustment margin (Y% value). For example, Doppler, gyroscopes,accelerometers, etc. may be used to determine a relative movement of theelectronic device 10, whether the electronic device 10 is worn on abody, is positioned at an operator's head, etc. Transmission powerdown-stepping may be more aggressive when electronic device 10 isrelatively stable or has predictably stable movement (e.g., a phone nearan operator's head). In contrast, transmission power down-stepping maybe less-aggressive when electronic device 10 is relatively unstable(e.g.., higher amount of movement) or has predictably unstable movement(e.g., a watch worn on a wrist during a run).

Power state 218 may also affect the power adjustment margin (Y% value).For example, when the electronic device 10 has a relatively low powerlevel (e.g., when plugged into a power source and/or not plugged into apower source), it may be desirable to be more aggressive indown-stepping the transmission power (e.g., to enter a “low power” orpower-savings mode). For example, this may help in rapid recharging ofthe electronic device 10 when the electronic device 10 has low power,but is attached to a power source. However, in some embodiments, whenthe electronic device 10 is plugged into a power source and/or maintainsa high power level, it may be desirable to be less aggressive indown-stepping the transmission power, since power conservation may beless of a priority.

The location 220 of the electronic device 10 may also be used to impactthe power adjustment margin (Y% value), as well. For example, when theelectronic device 10 is in a known location (e.g., an operator's home),certain information relating to communications in that environment maybe known (e.g., reduced transmission power has sufficient results withinthe operator's home, certain uses are predictable within the knownenvironment, etc.). This information may be used to determine theaggressiveness of the down-stepping that is desirable. For example, whenthe electronic device 10 is performing an unattended action (e.g.,software update) at home at a time when an operator is typically not onthe electronic device (e.g., 1:00 AM), it may be desirable to moreaggressively down-step the transmission power, as the electronic device10 communication demands may be low and/ or communication quality ofservice (QoS) may be less of a priority during unattended electroniccommunications. When the location 220 is in an unknown location, theaggressiveness of the down-stepping may be reduced, as the location 220factors may be unpredictable.

Other factors 222 may also play a role in the aggressiveness of thedown-stepping. For example, a casing material of the electronic device10 may impact the aggressiveness of down-stepping/power adjustmentmargin, etc. Additionally, as mentioned above, a number of previousstep-downs may be a factor in determining an aggressiveness ofsubsequent down-stepping. For example, a counter may indicate the numberof times a transmission power step-down has occurred. An aggressivenessof subsequent down-stepping may be determined based at least in part onthe number of previous transmission power step-downs. For example, insome embodiments, the fewer previous step-downs at a given transmissionrate may indicate that the subsequent transmission power step-down canbe relatively aggressive. Further, when a relatively large number ofprior step-downs have occurred at the given transmission rate, thesubsequent transmission power step-down may be relatively lessaggressive. In some embodiments, once a threshold number of transmissionpower step-downs have occurred at the given transmission rate,subsequent transmission power step downs for the given transmission ratemay be blocked.

Based upon the factors 210, a comparator 224 may determine relativeweights to apply to each of the factors 210. For example, the weightsmay act to prioritize certain of the factors 210 (e.g., power state 218and sensor state 216) over other of the factors 210 (e.g., other factors222). Further, some of the factors 210 may be ignored. In someembodiments, a desired level of confidence may impact the comparator 224processing. For example, the comparator 224 may provide a coarseestimate 226 and/or a fine estimate 228 of the power adjustment margin(Y% value) (for the desired aggressiveness in down-stepping). The fineestimate 228 may be desirable because such estimates may have a higherconfidence level. However, the fine estimate 228 may include morecomplex processing (e.g., by using relatively more of the factors 210 inthe comparison of comparator 224), which may be undesirable.Accordingly, in such cases, the coarse estimate 226 may be calculated,which may use less complex processing (e.g., by using relatively fewerof the factors 210 in the comparison of comparator 224). However, thecoarse estimate 226 may have a lower confidence level than the fineestimate 228.

As may be appreciated, the techniques described herein may provideefficient power management of electronic devices, while maintaining aparticular quality of service in electronic communications of theelectronic device. Accordingly, a power source of the electronic devicemay deplete at a reduced transmission rate, resulting in a moredesirable user experience.

The specific embodiments described above have been shown by way ofexample, and it should be understood that these embodiments may besusceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should befurther understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to theparticular forms disclosed, but rather to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope ofthis disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: an input/output(I/O) interface configured to facilitate electronic communications witha receiving electronic device, at a particular transmission rate that isdynamically changeable by the electronic device; transmission power andtransmission rate adjustment circuitry configured to: determine whethera step-down in a transmission power used for signal transmission at theparticular transmission rate is desirable; and when desirable,dynamically adjust the transmission power down one step, such that lesspower is used by the I/O interface during the electronic communications.2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the transmission power andtransmission rate adjustment circuitry, during operation of theelectronic device, is configured to continually: determine whether anadditional step-down in the transmission power is desirable; and whenthe additional step-down is desirable, dynamically adjust thetransmission power down one step.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1,comprising a sensor, wherein the electronic device is configured to:determine whether conditions exist that will likely affect stability ofa communication channel used for the electronic communications, usingdata from the sensor; and determine whether the step-down in thetransmission power is desirable based at least in part upon whether theconditions exist.
 4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein thesensor comprises a gyroscope, accelerometer, Doppler radar, orcombination thereof; and wherein the sensor is configured to providedata related to movement of the electronic device and the conditionscomprise movement of the electronic device likely to reduce stability ofthe communication channel.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1, whereinthe electronic device is configured to: determine one or morecharacteristics of use of the electronic device useful to determine atradeoff between communication quality and power usage of the electronicdevice; and determine whether the step-down in the transmission power isdesirable based upon the characteristics of use of the electronicdevice.
 6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the characteristicsof use of the electronic device comprise a current application runningon the electronic device, a data throughput of the current application,or both, wherein the tradeoff between communication quality and powerusage favors power usage for relatively low-data-throughput applicationsand favors communication quality for relatively high-data-throughputapplications.
 7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein theelectronic device is configured to: determine one or morecharacteristics of the electronic communications, the characteristicscomprising a distance between the electronic device and the receivingelectronic device, an error rate of the electronic communications, aradio used for the electronic communications, or any combinationthereof; and determine whether the step-down in the transmission poweris desirable based upon the characteristics of the electroniccommunications.
 8. The electronic device of claim 1, comprising abattery power source, wherein the electronic device is configured to:determine a power level of the battery power source; and determinewhether the step-down in transmission power is desirable, based at leastin part upon the power level.
 9. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the electronic device is configured to: present agraphical-user-interface requesting an input regarding a tradeoffbetween communication quality and power usage of the electronic devicereceive the input; and determine whether the step-down in thetransmission power is desirable, based at least in part upon the input.10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the electronic device isconfigured to: determine a number of step-downs in transmission powerthat have been previously performed at the particular transmission rate,a duration at a current transmission rate, or both; and determinewhether the step-down in the transmission power is desirable, based atleast in part upon the number of step-downs in transmission power, theduration at the current transmission rate, or both.
 11. A tangible,non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprisingprocessor-interpretable instructions to: for electronic communicationsfacilitated by an input/output (I/O) interface of an electronic deviceat a particular transmission rate that is dynamically changeable by theelectronic device, determine whether a step-down in transmission powerused for signal transmission at a particular transmission rate isdesirable; and when desirable, dynamically adjust the transmission powerdown one step, such that less power is used by the I/O interface duringthe electronic communications.
 12. The tangible, non-transitory,machine-readable medium of claim 11, comprising processor-interpretableinstructions to: determine whether one or more additional step-downs inthe transmission power are desirable; and when desirable, dynamicallyadjust the transmission power down the one or more additionalstep-downs.
 13. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium ofclaim 11, comprising processor-interpretable instructions to: upon eachtransmission power adjustment, increment a counter; and upon reaching athreshold number at the counter, discontinuing further transmissionpower adjustment.
 14. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium ofclaim 11, comprising processor-interpretable instructions to: determinea power adjustment margin based upon one or more characteristics of theelectronic device, one or more characteristics of a current use of theelectronic device, one or more characteristics of a communicationchannel of the electronic communications, or any combination thereof;and determine that the step-down in the transmission power used forsignal transmission at the particular transmission rate is desirablewhen a sample data throughput of transmission at the step-down in thetransmission power reaches a threshold defined by the power adjustmentmargin.
 15. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 14,comprising processor-interpretable instructions to: identify movement ofthe electronic device, based upon data from one or more sensors of theelectronic device; and modify the power adjustment margin based upon themovement, such that relatively higher power is used for relativelyhigher movement and relatively lower power is used for relatively lowermovement.
 16. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 14,comprising processor-interpretable instructions to: identify a desireddata throughput of the current use of the electronic device; and modifythe power adjustment margin based upon the desired data throughput ofthe current use, such that relatively higher power is used forrelatively higher desired data throughput and relatively lower power isused for relatively lower desired data throughput.
 17. Thenon-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 14, comprisingprocessor-interpretable instructions to: identify a current batterylevel of the electronic device; and modify the power adjustment marginbased upon the current battery level, such that relatively higher poweris used for a relatively higher current battery level and relativelylower power is used for a relatively lower current battery level. 18.The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 14, comprisingprocessor-interpretable instructions to: identify a position of thecurrent use of the electronic device; and modify the power adjustmentmargin based upon the position.
 19. A processor-implemented method,comprising: facilitating, via the processor of an electronic device,electronic communications with a target electronic device, at aparticular transmission rate that is dynamically changeable by theelectronic device; determine whether a step-down in a transmission powerused for signal transmission at the particular transmission rate isdesirable; and when desirable, dynamically adjusting the transmissionpower down one step, such that less power is used by the electronicdevice during the electronic communications.
 20. Theprocessor-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the step comprises a0.5 dB step, a 1 dB step, or a 2 dB step.